[GTALUG] Raspberry Pi 4 Desktop Kit

[Aruna Hewapathirane]

Hi Stewart,

On Sat, Aug 8, 2020 at 3:21 PM Stewart C. Russell via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
wrote:

> Hi Aruna -
>
> Just covering some points that didn't quite match my experience. 4GB
> Raspberry Pi 4 good, 8 GB better, which it sounds like you've discovered.
>

Yes thanks to Scott and others :-)

>
> > How hot does the unit become ? Does it require an add on fan shim ?
> > Or will work fine without one ?
>
> You can definitely get by without one. I have the temperature-controlled
> Pimoroni Fan Shim in one, and it very rarely operates. It used to run a
> lot before the firmware update late last year, but these days I barely
> notice it.
>

Oh-kay but am gonna get a fan just to be on the safe side. I am paranoid
when it comes to hardware.

>
> > How easy or difficult would it be to boot off an external hard disk
> > as compared to the SD card that comes with the Pi ?
>
> More difficult, but not that hard. Note that the Raspberry Pi is picky
> about SATA adapters. This one has a chipset that will give you pretty
> close to the maximum speed possible with the Raspberry Pi 4's slightly
> wiggly data path: STARTECH USB 3.0 to 2.5" SATA III Hard Drive Adapter
> Cable w/ UASP —
>
> https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=5_1336_96&item_id=085674


I am curious when you say slightly wiggly data path ? How wiggly ?

>
>
> This may all get radically simpler when UEFI for the Raspberry Pi
> becomes a stable thing, but that's a little way off yet.
>

I hate UEFI always gives me a hard time when I have to do a dual boot
linux/Windows installation.

>
> > Any other things to watch out for and be aware of before I purchase ?
>
> If you do buy the full kit including keyboard and mouse, the compact
> keyboard and mouse are surprisingly good (for my values of "good"). It
> also has the clever feature of a 3-port USB hub built into the keyboard,
> so you can plug in the mouse and only use one port - and still have a
> nearby port for USB stick use.
>

I was thinking of getting a USB extender hub with 4 ports or similar.


>
> The full kit comes with 2x micro-hdmi to HDMI cables. Absurd numbers of
> Raspberry Pi 4s are selling as dual-monitor thin clients, but note
> there's only room for *micro* HDMI connectors: it's hard to bodge with
> adapters.
>

Alright noted with thanks.

>
> You also said:
>
> > The hardest I will run that Pi will be when compiling the Linux
> > Kernel and when making Video calls.
>
> Ah. The Raspberry Pi kernel is *not quite* mainline yet. Building a new
> kernel will likely lose you useful things in the stock kernel, such as
> 3d graphics acceleration and video acceleration. You also (currently)
> lose that if you run a 64-bit kernel.
>

Oh no-no I meant compiling the Raspberry Pi kernel itself. I found some
code here: https://github.com/raspberrypi
Again just to teach myself and see if I can make it have a smaller
footprint.


> The stock Raspberry Pi OS image (formerly known as Raspbian: it's
> Debian-based) has the best user experience. Every other distro hasn't
> got as much user support. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has a very
> definite view of how their desktop should look, so if you've done lots
> of customization to their LXDE-based desktop, it *will* all get reverted
> at the next refresh of the UI. This happens roughly quarterly.
>

So is the quarterly refresh of the UI automatic ? or you are given the
option
to choose and say yes go ahead or uh-uh stick with my modified one ?


>
> Also, video calls: I don't know of any of the major video call providers
> that support ARM and Raspberry Pi. Google Meet through Chromium, maybe.
> Anything that requires a binary (so Zoom, Skype) is right out. Going to
> ARM from x86 for the first time can be a bit of a blow: the number of
> systems that only work on x86 is annoyingly high.
>

Video calls are what I use to stress test a system. I did find some links
about making video calls using the Pi:

Video Calling on Raspberry Pi 3
<https://www.instructables.com/id/Video-Calling-on-Raspberry-Pi-3/>

Working from home with your Pi
<https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/working-from-home-with-your-raspberry-pi/>Turn
a Raspberry Pi, a Webcam and a TV into a video call ...
<https://www.balena.io/blog/put-friends-and-loved-ones-on-the-big-screen-with-this-instant-video-call-project/>


>
> The Raspberry Pi camera is also fixed focus and doesn't do audio. It's
> not useful for video calls.
>

Okay good to know again.


>
> I don't know anyone well enough in the Edmonton area to help with
> installation, sorry.
>

No worries, you have been a big help. Thank you.


>
> cheers,
>   Stewart
>
>
> cheers,
>   Stewart
> ---
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